Windcrest Y looks to Jan. 2011 opening

Progress continues on a YMCA being built on Walzem Road on the city's Northeast side, with officials still confident for an opening by early next year.

The 35,000-square-foot facility now under construction had been scheduled to open during last year's fourth quarter before a delay caused by the economic recession. But with the economy slowly improving, construction crews have resumed work on the facility expected to be completed by January.

To hear YMCA spokeswoman Tuesdae Knight tell it, the Walzem YMCA – a healthy stone's throw away from Rackspace housed at the site of the shuttered Windsor Park Mall – is a long time coming. Despite the presence of several schools in the well-populated sector, no such facilities exist there, she said.

To that end, the YMCA at 5538 Walzem Road will feature an indoor pool, indoor basketball court and other amenities. While they work out, parents can have staff watch their children at a daycare center with the first two hours of care free as part of membership. And even the smallest of tykes won't be left out, with plans to incorporate some of the tiny treadmills and other exercise equipment designed for diminutive youngsters found at other locations.

YMCA officials promise the range of amenities, including state-of-the art cardio and workout machines, a group exercise studio, locker rooms, family-focused programs and health and wellness area. To beat the summer doldrums, activities for children including day camps also will be in the mix – including week-long sleepovers at Camp Flaming Arrow in Hunt, Texas, for those between the ages of 5 and 13.

“We involve children from the moment we can get them,” Knight said. She noted the range of clientele from infants to a 92-year-old working out at the TriPoint location at North St. Mary's off Highway 281, believed to be the oldest member.

Expected to be slightly bigger than the TriPoint location, the Walzem site was designed by architects at Marmon Mok and is being built by Kopplow Construction. Like the TriPoint location, the Walzem site is also to be located at the site of a shuttered Albertson's grocery store, Knight noted.

“This facility will actually be our first facility that we're renovating that will have an indoor court and pool,” she said.

Among the eight full facilities planned at the site will be a gymnasium to be named after former councilwoman Sheila McNeil, who first proposed the idea of building in the area.

McNeil earmarked $4 million from a bigger bond that had been passed by voters for the purposes of building a recreation center in the neglected part of the Northeast side. From there, YMCA officials performed a feasibility study and found demographics suitable to sustain a YMCA facility at the location, Knight said.

A high rate of childhood diabetes and obesity underscores the need for fitness sites citywide, she said.

“We're No. 7 of all the states in terms of obesity,” Knight said, pointing to the YMCA's Kid Fit program designed specifically for weight-challenged children. “We're always trying to be vigilant as to what are community's needs are.”

That vigilance extends into assisting low-income families to be able to afford membership – including the waiving of the $99 membership fee for those who are diabetic or pre-diabetic. Subsisting through membership dues, the nonprofit YMCA every year launches a campaign to raise funds for grants to help those unable to afford membership.

Knight noted membership fees vary from location to location, and a schedule for the Walzem Road site will be released closer to the anticipated January opening.